An inline measurement method for capacity of end-to-end network path

Abstract

We previously proposed a new version of TCP, called Inline measurement TCP (ImTCP), in [1]. The ImTCP sender adjusts the transmission intervals of data packets and then utilizes the arrival intervals of ACK packets for available bandwidth estimation. This type of active measurement is preferred for TCP connections because the obtained results are as accurate as those of other conventional types of active measurement, even though no extra probe traffic is injected onto the network. In the present research, we combine a new capacity measurement function with ImTCP in order to enable simultaneous measurement of both capacity and available bandwidth in ImTCP. The capacity measurement algorithm is a new packet-pair-based measurement technique that utilizes the estimated available bandwidth values for capacity calculation. This new algorithm promises faster measurement than current packet-pair-based measurement algorithms for various situations and works well for high-load networks, in which current algorithms do not work properly. Moreover, the new algorithm provides a confidence interval for the measurement result.